Hosmer Lake

I went to visit a friend in Redmond, Oregon this weekend.
We loaded up her vintage (heavy) aluminum canoe and took the dogs to Hosmer Lake.

Beautiful.

Paddling through the reeds.

The two dogs graduated as "Best Boat Dogs Ever" which basically means they stayed seated and did not tip the canoe.

My phone camera stayed secure in my pocket - so I stole some lake photos from someone else.

It was a breezy hot day which meant no bug spray but plenty of sunscreen.
There were a couple of wildfires raging between Sisters & Redmond but we lucked out with no smokey smell over Hosmer.

Red Winged Blackbirds were plentiful and colorful.

Lookout Mountain Hike

My friend and I hiked up Lookout Mountain, again.
Such a nice, easy hike.
This is the Mother Lode  Mine.

A stunning 360-degree panaramic view awaits you at the top.
Notice those july dogtail widlflowers at the bottom of the photo.

There are several ways to get to the summit.
We circled up from the east of the mine buildings around to the west.
More info on the Mother Lode Mine is here.

Horses earlier in the spring.
Very dry this year. 
Parts of the western trail were very dusty.


Favorite Columbine.
More Wildflowers.

Trail meandering towards the summit amidst stunning sage.

We still don't know what these pods are.
They seem to be attached to the sedum (stonecrop).

Mama & Puppies were bouncing up & around, back & forth, & off-trail all the way up.
By the time we reached the summit, they were knackered.
Bella (mama) in front. Osso (brown) in middle and
Daisydoodle collapsed in the tiny bit of shade.

Scarlett Gilia (Skyrocket)


Puppies, Daisy & Osso

Lilies near the bottom of the trail - near mine buildings on west side.
Summit looking north.



A lovely jumble of widlflowers.

Auger near west trail.

Mushrooms growing from log.

Lovely woodland vista.


Mother Lode Mine Building near west trailhead.

South of the mine buildings, still heading down.

Western Monkshood.



Perry's Larkspur


Towards the summit - all sage and balsam.

Looking west. Three Sisters directly ahead and to the south. Mt. Jefferson to the right (north), Mt. Hood to the far north & Mt. Adams (washington state) even further north. Those dratted blues & greys. Can't make out the snowy mtns. from the camera.

No wildfires.
Yet.
Although while we were eating lunch, one sprang up near the Warm Springs reservation.

Indian Paintbrush

links:
Wildflowers:
Mother Lode Mine.
Lookout Mountain - East of Prineville - ochocos.

Falcons

My first post about the thrilling falcons was here.

We saw three  different  types of falcons at the Anchor Heart Ranch.
First up was "Ginger Rogers", an Aplomodo.





She is called Ginger Rogers because she likes to dance. These three birds were raised in captivity. For more reading, try the Birds of North America web page.
Here's another link.

Gyrfalcon. The one the kings want.

There are about 3000 falcons like these, here in the US.
In the Middle East , there are about 50,000. Falconry is a bigger sport over there.

They eat a carnivorous diet. Jim cuts up starlings amongst other meats for them.
They can obviously see much farther than we can. Into the ultraviolet spectrum.
Jim has done presentations for the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon.


I forget what type this third one is but he is very tame and flew some wedding rings to the groom at a recent wedding event at the ranch. The guests were thrilled.

There is speculation about how fast they can fly. There is a skydiver on Whidbey Island (or was that Orcas Island) who skydives with his falcon. Since humans are heavier, it makes sense that humans will travel faster to the ground. His bird not only keeps up but can surge ahead. Incredibly aerodynamic.

Just two weeks ago, my local paper, The Canby Herald, published a story about a local blueberry farmer utilizing falcons (sorry - link died when Pamplin took over Eagle Newspapers) for small bird (starlings) control. They had tried numerous other methods to keep starlings from maiming their crop with little or no success.

"Methods included visual deterrents, such as images of large eyes, auditory deterrents, like distressed bird calls and propane cannons, and even people with shotguns. "

The falcons have proven the most effective and the lest expensive deterrent. Plus they are popular with the neighbors.

Maybe when I grow up I'll become an ornithologist..

Great Weekend

Saturday, we flew falcons at the Anchor Heart ranch. Amazing and thrilling.

Sunday, we were going to go canoeing. What with the forest fire smoke and the girls sleeping in, we changed plans for a reconnaissance hike around Lake Walton.

This lake is a few miles past Prineville on hwy 126 - the same road that goes near Lookout Mtn.

 



Just past Prineville were signs for a garage sale. Not just any garage sale but a 'Destination Garage Sale'.


We drove past thinking we would stop on the way back.



Walton Lake turned out to be small and nearly ambulatory.
A little "On Waldon Pond".
The well-maintained path around the lake was only 1 1/4 miles on flat compacted gravel or 1 1/2 miles on asphalt.
Definitely something older folks could hike --plenty of benches.

Circling above us was an osprey which suddenly plunged into the lake, emerging with a fish in it's talons. A perfect sight following Saturdays falcon fest.

By the time we drove past the destination garage sale - I had to make the driver pull a U-ey - it was half-past 2 pm and everything was freefreefree.

Amazing timing.

All four of us stuffed many boxes of fabulous finds into the car.

A perfect end to our time in central Oregon.

My Kids Have Grown Up

My beautiful daughter with her fairy godmother.

Off to Ketchikan to work for the summer.

Birthday Airplanes

It's my Birthday. I am one of the few people I know who loves her birthday. I always do what I want on my day.

I am also one of the few people I know who revels in my number of years. All of my friends know how old I am. I have zero desire to 'stay' 29 forever and I really look forward to celebrating my day every year. It's an occasion to celebrate. Another year forward.
This year, I went off to Redmond to visit a dear friend who also happens to be my daughter's godmother. I feel like I have known her forever. We stayed up late talking both nights I was there.

On the way back, I turned off the Hwy. to climb the 6 miles to Timberline Lodge. I hadn't been there in forever and the snow zone in May makes it feel much colder than the 50' - 80' in the valley.

Mt. Hood at Timberline

32' there. Necessitating grabbing the polarfleece in the trunk to walk around. 6 miles down the road, back at Hwy 26 and Government Camp, it's 10 degrees warmer.

Rawhide woven Seat bottoms.

Classic Wood Ski's like my Mom & Dad skied on.

North up the mountain?

 I arrived home to find several birthday packages waiting on the counter and the mailbox.

My favorite came from Japan and involved some serious airplane usage. Love it.
Thank you!~

 A zippered pouch, Pincushion, two Macaroon purses,
a fabric pen, and a book on sewing bags. I looked at that book, Girly Bag Collection,  at  Uwajimaya's about a month ago. Were you peeking over my shoulder?

Sometimes I am really lucky in that my Anniversary, my Birthday and Mother's Day often fall on the same weekend creating a triple whammy of a holiday.
Thank you all for celebrating with me.

Going To The Airshow

Central Oregon during the last week in August generally yields some amazing thunderhead build-ups and the subsequent lightening strikes which makes for interesting flying.

Flying East - towards Mt. Hood
You can see scattered thunderheads in thedistance

We like to go to Madras, Oregon at this time of year which gets us over to the warmer part of the state (lol). The flying season is winding down for those of us who fly open-cockpit biplanes so the Central Oregon Airshow is about the next-to-last airshow. It's also filled with hot cars, people who get flying airplanes, amazing hospitality and good weather.

If you squint - that's Mt. St. Helens in the distance - Sandy area below

 

WHAT is the name of this lake? Lost Lake? on the north side of Hood.

This year, thunderheads did a giant wham-bang over in the Bend-Redmond area sparking numerous small fires. We woke up Friday to our own thunderstorm in the Willamette Valley. The storm started passing and we were able to take off around 8:30am. We usually go NE towards the gorge, flying up to Hood River and then turning nearly straight south to Madras. The gorge was still socked in, thunderheads were still scattered around and we flew just to the north of Mt. Hood.

We only had a few fat drops of rain hit us but a headwind bringing the heat from Central Oregon kept us warm as we climbed to over 6000 feet to get over the mountains.

 We had forgotten to take our aeronautical map with us and our internal radios were fritzin' out on us so a lot of hand-gestures later, we figured out that Madras was to the east of the giant fire plume. Visibilty was still pretty good but when we left Sunday, it had degenerated to about nothing.

Warm Springs Reservation

We had to taxi to the end of the runway (5000') because we didn't have enough brakes to make the first exit off. As we were approaching the end, the voice over the radio said," Stearman? Are you going to be done with the runway soon? The B-17 would like to land."

Taxiing - missed the short taxi.

So - we are taxiing - finally off the runway when the B-17 touches down.
Just as it is going by and I am about to get the world's best photo here -
we taxi past this tied-down airplane. Whatever.

Madras puts on a great night airshow, incorporating some airplane acts before dusk and finishing with a glider gliding gently down with fireworks. This year, they really got all of the  squirrly electronic noise out of the speakers and the music with the glider was phenomenal.
Was it Vivaldi? Very emotional.

CAF B-25 - as we taxi on by

We are parked and I am getting out of my seat and I managed to get this shot of the B-17
taxiing to it's spot on the tarmac.
You can see the smoke behind him.

The B-17 and the B-25 Bombers are part of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF)

N3N

One of the originating organizers. Ron Och's N3N (not to be confused with a Stearman)

Next blog post: Leaving with no visibility